olive juice

1950's

2009-06-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

don't these pictures have that feel?

a blink of an eye...

2009-06-16T20:54:00.000-07:00

whooo arrre yooou....

2009-06-16T20:05:00.001-07:00

Ever since we read an Alice in Wonderland book to Anaya. She has been in love with the story.

~
we don't expose her to movies or TV (holding out as long as possible) so her imagination and creativity can blossom to it's full potential.

Instead her 1st introduction to Alice in Wonderland was a play put on by children ranging from Kindergarten - to High School

A MYART production.

She loved every minute of it!

it says a lot when a three year old sits without a fuss for a whole hour and a half.

*a week later she was at the park and to over come her fear of covered (tunnel) slides. She told herself out loud that it was the rabbit whole!

1-2-3 !! in she went !! ... screaming, 'I'm late, I'm late for a very important date'

little bunny foo foo

2009-06-16T20:03:00.001-07:00

my most favorite flower in the world

2009-05-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

....

Mischievous nymphs were said to hide in the petals of the Peony thus causing this magnificent flower to be given the meaning of Shame or Bashfulness in the Language of Flowers. It was named after Pæon, a physician to the gods, who obtained the plant on Mount Olympus from the mother of Apollo.

mother's day tea

2009-05-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

it was so sweet.

a mother's day tea especially for us mamas.

so appropriate

2009-05-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

teacher Tracy to Anaya :: tell me something about your mom...

Anaya :: she says, "don't be mean to Luna and don't do anything to Luna" and today right now, Luna pooped on the ground and we said, "don't do that Luna, you have your own potty."

their relationship in a nutshell

2009-05-26T16:10:00.000-07:00

anaya's first train ride...

2009-05-26T15:34:00.000-07:00

we headed with Anaya's class by train to San Juan Capistrano.

First stop: Zoomars, a petting zoo with all kinds of animals!

Second stop: San Juan Mission

garden picnic lunch, friends, a cloudy day with tea

new adventures

fairy anaya

2009-05-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

a day n a life of a three yr old

2009-05-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

snails are my friends

ladybugs wow me

tadepoles are tiny
bees make honey

yummm.. honey.

bliss.

2009-05-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

spring is here!!

2009-05-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

happy easter

anaya LUVs her grace -n josh

2009-05-26T14:23:00.001-07:00

ooh la la..

2009-05-26T14:08:00.001-07:00

A dear friend of mine is about to have her 2ND baby.

I've been wanting to take a beginners quilting class but time and finances didn't make this possible. So, I thought I'd give it a whirl, teach myself as I go. Surprisingly, I also found helpful footage on youtube.

I must say I'm really happy how it turned out!

new years resolution

2009-05-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

to surround each day with creativity.

to create.

3rd birthday

2009-05-26T13:26:00.001-07:00

what a magical birthday it was...

reminiscing...

2008-11-27T13:10:00.000-08:00

I miss this age.

look at those eyes!!! they are so mesmerising, you want to jump into them.

Awwwhhhh...

Anaya at 9 months.

A Birthday Care Package from Holland

2008-11-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

feeln' the love

2008-11-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

With my parents (Anaya's nana & papi) living on the other side of the world majority of the year. You have to get a lil' creative with keeping in touch. My mom calls Anaya about once every 2 weeks just to hear her sing! Since they both share the love for music they take turns singing to each other. It's quite cute!

For those who know my mother... it's quite fascinating how Anaya moves her body while singing!! it resembles my mom to a T! It's one thing if Anaya grew up watching her nana sing but with them visiting once, maybe twice a year it's all genetics, baby!! hahaha...

my child the entertainer. My mom is grinning from ear-to-ear right now!!

Happy Halloween

2008-11-10T19:29:00.000-08:00

I always had this vision in my head (even before havin' a kid), how wonderful it would be to create my child's Halloween costume, every year.

then reality set in.

3 Halloween's later, I faced the challenge head on...

Anaya wanted to be a BUTTERFLY!

Can you believe?? I did it!! I really did it!! I MADE Anaya's Halloween costume!!

As soon as she was set on what she wanted to be. Her and I went down to the library to research all the possibilities. We came across a beautiful picture book of every kind of butterfly and moth imaginable. Anaya scanned through and chose to be a 'peacock' butterfly.

I took metal hangers and shaped them into wings. Black tights stretched over the skeleton. Hand painted and glittered them up.

I learned how to make a no-sew tutu.

black pipe cleaners for the antennas.

what a great Halloween this was!

~ trick-or-treat ~

Camping 2008

2008-11-10T19:22:00.000-08:00

what buddies!
fort building

girl time

Aiden:: look!! look!! I caught a REAL fish!!!

scootn' together

tree time

I love this pic. look at Anaya's hand.

1st field trip ~ Tanaka Farms

2008-11-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

I got to pick my very own pumpkin off the vine!

corn maze

wagon ride

happy as can be!

a weekend in carp.

2008-11-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

Yes, We Can!

2008-11-10T06:59:00.000-08:00

Yes! We Did!

boho chic

2008-10-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

Anaya is all about dressing herself these days.

It's always in a dress or skirt.

She was feeling rather 'boho chic' today.

even check out the earrings she put on (by placing the hooks up over the top of her ear).

the many faces of Anaya

2008-10-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, Anaya has always had a lot of expression in her face. I thought it would be fun to really show you how much.

These were NOT prompted in any way.

Anaya, can you show me what you look like when you are...

MAD

SCARED

HAPPY

SHY

SURPRISED

Plus these were photographed right after one another.

Truly gifted.

My lil' Charlie Chaplin.

signing with Omi

2008-09-30T18:42:00.000-07:00

OK Omi, I'm going to show you how to sign, 'I love you'!

thumb and pointer finger up. Oh! and make sure your pinky is too.

see check it out... 'I love you'! now you try...

YIKES! what's that!?

well at least you tried! YEAH for Omi!!!

Omi is Anaya's great-grandma. They crack each other up all the time! This was such a special moment.

Jencie & Anaya

2008-08-30T22:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day, Papa!

2008-08-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

On Father's Day, I wanted to surprise Morgan with something he use to love to do with his dad and hasn't done in a while.

So, we spent the morning sailing!

Ahoy Matey!

it's all coming back...

In training

We love you.

In the afternoon I packed up the car, the cooler, Morgan's new surfboard and we headed to the beach. Luckily, the sun finally came out. It was quite nice just sittin' and relaxin', watching Anaya build sandcastles and Papa enjoying his new board.

Aquarium of the Pacific

2008-08-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to get a membership to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Wow! what a great thing this has been. Anaya and I have gone at least 3x's this summer and every time has been amazing.

I'm developing a love for family membership/passes!

Ths particular trip was extra special. Anaya had both her BFF's there. Annabelle had just arrived the other day from her new home base, Oregon. She was going to be here all summer. They hadn't seen each other in over 5 months. Chloe even played rookie to come join the crew!

checking it out from a distance

peek-a-boo

look at those cheeks!!

sooo cool...

My little Amelie

2008-08-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

The Queen Mary ~ Tony-Lynn & Rob's Wedding

2008-08-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

Look Tevin... Look!

Precious Moments

the 4 amigos!

i love this pic.

2008-08-28T21:23:00.001-07:00

watch out Ceaser Milan...

2008-06-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

And so it starts...

2008-05-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

WHY??

but WHY???

Anaya's new favorite word

a different perspective.

2008-05-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

exactly what we wanted to do...

2008-05-05T20:21:00.000-07:00

just didn't quite know it.

You know those Saturday mornings were your antsy to get out but don't quite know what you want to do. The ideas thrown out either sound fun to one but not the other. Your on two totally different wave lengths... I want breakfast, I want lunch, I want to be outside. I don't want to be around crowds and where can we go where parking isn't going to be a hassle?

Well, we had one of these mornings last Saturday.

Morgan just told me to get ready, we'll figure something out.

We hopped in the truck with Anaya and headed toward the beach. Morgan remembered that he still had a gift certificate to The Beachcombers in Crystal Cove. We've heard such great things about this restaurant. Which is right on a (some what) secluded beach. We wanted to have lunch here on our Anniversary but was shocked to hear the "usual expected wait" was an hour and a half (minimum) and they do not take reservations.

Today, we decided to go with the adventure!

The restaurant is nestled in stunning Crystal Cove. You park across Highway 1 and a red trolley/bus drops you off at the mouth of the old community

(riding the bus was already a treat for Anaya).

The weather was beautifully P-E-R-F-E-C-T!!

Gosh, we are so spoiled.

The wait to be seated was about an hour and fifteen minutes. We were given a pager.

So, off we went exploring...

We saw dolphins!

there was barely anyone on the beach.

treasure hunting at the tide pools

next thing you know it's time for lunch...

Anaya was so pleased she got her own meal.

She ate it ALL.. grilled cheese with apple slices.

And a frozen banana!

Everything tasted so good and the view was breath-taking!

We decided to walk back to the car which lead us to one last adventure, through a long tunnel covered in kids graffiti. It immediately brought back memories of a similar tunnel in Cinque Terre, Italy. Morgan and I held each other.

Anaya was all smiles.

Meet: BOB

2008-05-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

I've always pictured Anaya with a little bob.

But, since her hair didn't start growing till she was 16 months,
patiently I had to wait.

FINALLY at 2 years and 4 months...

"It's cute", says Anaya.

Making sure everyone notices her new haircut.

let it be

2008-03-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

It's so hilarious, Anaya will start randomly singing Beatles songs. We never teach her the lyrics to any songs. She just picks them up herself.
Before bed she decided to perform 'Let it Be' for me.

Do we have an entertainer on our hands?

Me and My Papa

2008-03-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

The plus side of Morgan having to be at work at 6am is he arrives home each day around 2:30 (that is if he doesn't have to work over-time). This is also the changing of shifts around here. Morgan and Anaya go on little adventures while I work from home. Just these last couple of weeks they have gone to the farm, the park, the zoo and prehistoric pets.

Anaya loves her Papa time!

The Santa Ana Zoo

OC Centennial Farm

Oh! my gosh... a baby!

Weeee... Park time!

we heart this new band...

2008-03-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

we hear a request for 'weekend' daily from Anaya.

What's crazy is she knows more words than Morgan and I do.
My next mission: record her singing along.

the filming in this clip is pretty bad.

Wish it was Josh filming away. It would have been amazing.

needing some magic...

2008-03-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

As soon as Anaya cleared the 72 hour quarantine period of strep throat, showed improvement in her eyes and no fever for 5 days were else to go but 'the happiest place on earth', Disneyland! Some of you would shutter to think we went after a month of sickness. But, we needed this so bad! Since we got in free through a friend's father it was a very casual trip. Being a local, yes that is possible. We took Anaya to Disneyland before but she was only 3 & 6 months. So, this was the first true Disney adventure for her.

Walking through the gates we were immediately greeted by Alice and the Made Hatter. They were dancing and singing, gleaming children surrounded them. Anaya held me tight. Our day of magic begins.

special moments...

- 1st ride, Finding Nemo aka. submarine. Anaya was in awhh! her favorite was the whales. The best was when she saw the crab out the window looked at me and said, 'like at dim sum'. God, I love this girl.

- loved taking her onto the Jungle Cruise. My dad's favorite.

- after a surprisingly yummy lunch we hoped on the train and just lounged. We absorbed the park from a distance. Anaya was intrigued with the secret tunnel of dinosaurs. Who knew this still existed!

- Meeting Mickey for the 1st time. I thought she was going to freak out since this has been the reaction with almost every character. But once she got face to face with him she was smittened. I was shocked. Anaya was quick to give him kisses and kept saying how nice Mickey is. She didn't mine being 2 inches away from his face. it was very sweet.

this is the ONLY picture we have. You can't really see the gleam in her eyes. But, of course their professional photographer took quite a few and was able to capture the moment,
ChEcK It OuT

-The look of amazement as the parade went down Main Street. She could of watched this for hours. Her favorite was the Lion King float.

Beatle Mania

2008-03-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

Beatle love. still going strong.

china-doll

2008-03-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

In process of making my very 1st doll for Anaya.

It's just taking a bit to complete.

Anaya came up to me the other day and said, 'can I have my doll when I'm six?'.

Morgan thought it was funny to teach her that. ha-ha.

Wee Wonderful Doll

our little sick bear

2008-03-08T13:41:00.000-08:00

Anaya has been really really sick majority of the month. I think we had a week and a half of her being healthy. It all started when we enrolled her into a small in-home daycare program. Literally, a week after she started she became sick. She had diarrhea for days, then it evolved into cold/flu with a temp., a constant cough, throwing up and then totally lethargy! This is when freak out mode came over Morgan and I. I have always used the Sears website, almost as a bible and I remember it saying something along the line of, 'doesn't matter how high the temp is it's how they are acting. Lethargy is NOT a good sign immediately call your ped'. It does something to you to see your child in this state. Here is a toddler that should be running around (driving you nuts) but instead she's sitting on the couch not able to keep her eyes open. For two days she didn't even take ONE step. Anaya started to loose weight she didn't have much of an appetite. Luckily, she was drinking plenty. I treated all the symptoms with homeopathic, herbal supplements, natural remedies. We even saw her chiropractor Dr. Jen. who diagnosed her with a sinus infection. I was told which homeopathy's and supplements to give. I left feeling better having a diagnosis. But when the next day came and she was in the same lethargy state and we were now going on almost a week of sickness. I panicked. I made an appointment with her pediatrician, Dr. Jim Sears. I love the Sears for their support on extended breast feeding, healthy eating & not pushing vaccines. But I have almost lost complete hope in Dr.'s, in general. I think every sick visit we have gone to I have left with a prescription for antibiotics. So here I am again leaving with no true diagnosis and a prescription for antibiotics. To top it of!... Dr. Jim had the nerve to fan her file at her while she was coughing and said 'Don't get me sick'!!!! WTF!!!! I almost lost it!!!! I started Anaya on antibiotics that night. In about 3 days she started showing improvement. It took her about a week to get her complete strength back.

1st true day of feeln' better.

Fast forward a week and a half later...
Anaya got sick again. She woke up with a rash ALL over her body and a temp. I treated the rash naturally but no results. The next morning she woke to both her eyes being blood shot red and a fever. I started to look for a diagnosis on-line. Morgan's parents sent me info on Kawasaki Disease. She had 4 of the 6 symptoms!!! I begin to secretly loose it. Feeling vulnerable from the previous sickness. I had Morgan take her to the Hoag walk-in clinic across the street. It took 2 hours for them to be seen. Of course, no diagnosis. They had no idea what she had. They requested she should be seen by her ped. Argh! I hate Dr.'s. The 3rd day her rash started going away but her eyes were still super red and she continued to have a low grade temp. I tried seeing Dr. Bob but he wasn't in! F@!? So back to Dr. Jim. Good thing he seemed to be in better spirits that day. She tested positive for strep throat. But, he was kind of alarmed of her having a rash and red eyes. These are not symptoms of strep. He turned to me and said I want you to keep an eye out for 2 things, excessively chapped lips and peeling of finger tips. immediately I looked at him and said, "Kawasaki Disease" he replied, "yes". My heart sank. We were given amoxicillion for the strep. This Dr's visit was last Wed. Yesterday she woke with red eyes and a temp of 99.9 the rash seems to come and go only on her face now. The whole day her temp stayed below 100! Yeah! This morning my prayers were answered... Anaya woke with improvement. Slight, but it was improvement. Her eyes looked pink appose to red and she had no fever. I do see the light at the end of this very long tunnel. I do.

a new chapter...

2008-02-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

Anaya just started going to a Waldorf inspired daycare/program, 2 days a week. She has lately been showing major signs of wanting to be with other kids (on a more reg. bases) and wanting to spread her wings, slowly, from mama and papa.

She goes Tues. and Thurs. morning from 8:45 - noon.

Ezekiel's Garden is such a magical place. The bunnies run freely in the yard, there's a large sand box, slides, tree swings, bikes, rocking horses galore and everything you need to play 'house/babies' with, Anaya's favorite.
Ms. Phyllis incorporates lots imitative hands-on task such as baking (using all organic ingredients), sewing, building and even gardening!

Anaya says she love her 'school'.

So, here's to a new chapter...

I'm turning into such a mom...

2008-01-31T19:30:00.000-08:00

and love it!

I just finished a 2 day beginner knitting course.

I'm making your standard 1st project, a scarf.

Next on my to-do-list a sewing class.

Pesticides in Produce

2008-01-30T19:43:00.000-08:00

Dirty Dozen
(you want to buy these Organic)
-peaches
-apples
-sweet bell peppers
-celery
-nectarines
-strawberries
-cherries
-pears
-grapes (imported)
-spinach
-lettuce
-potatoes

Cleanest 12
(lowest in pesticides)
-Onions
-sweet corn (frozen)
-pineapples
-mango
-asparagus
-sweet peas (frozen)
-kiwi
-bananas
-cabbage
-broccoli
-papaya

skate or die

2008-01-25T08:27:00.000-08:00

my best buddie & i gettn' our skate on!

spread the word...

2008-01-24T14:03:00.001-08:00

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

bang. bang.

2008-01-24T11:29:00.000-08:00

this change is so what I needed.

I'm back!!! ... and it feels vonderful!!!

the art of threading...

2008-01-24T11:23:00.000-08:00

happy new year

2008-01-03T21:25:00.000-08:00

klkphotography.com

thanks, Kristi... your the best!

Thank God for Reindeer!

2007-12-20T20:36:00.000-08:00

Anaya has really been taking in the Holidays this year. She's intrigued with all the twinkling lights and Christmas themed lawn ornaments displayed. Her favorite Holiday character has to be reindeer. When Anaya saw a (motion) reindeer for the first time, you know the ones that lite up and move their heads, she talked about it for days. Almost as if she saw a real one!

I heard Santa was going to make a special stop at the Seal Beach Pier with 2 of his reindeer. I knew this had to be our Santa encounter this year. Last year, our visit with Santa didn't go over quite well. Anaya's just not sure of this tall man whose face is almost fully covered with white hair and only little specs peering out at you. Not to mention he's dressed in red velvet attire from head-to-toe. I don't blame her. But, I thought the reindeer would be the magic this Christmas.

first glimpse...

look!! ... look!! ... it's ...

Oh! man what is this guy doing here...

up close shot of the kung-fu grip

cookie monster

2007-12-20T20:16:00.000-08:00

Oh! what a treat...

Auntie Gwen sharing in my 1st time baking yummy cookies

1st bite

i think she liked it !

Trimming of the Tree

2007-12-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

Helping Papa put on the lights.

Seeing the lights on for the 1st time

Trimming of the Tree

Twinkle Twinkle

Oh! Christmas tree

2007-12-08T21:56:00.000-08:00

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas...

today we went in search for the perfect Christmas Tree. This is one of my favorite parts of the season.

Growing up my parents owned a live Christmas tree lot, M&R Farms (M&R being my parents initials). This is where I spent most of my winter breaks. I remember asking my dad if we could please please please have a petting zoo at the 'farm'. I promised that I would take care of all the animals. My dad brought our chickens there. Not quite what I had in mind. This time of the year I was always surrounded by kids and parents alike darting and weaving through the rows of trees, exclaiming their joy once they found the perfect one! Christmas music was always blaring, flock machines going and mistletoe hanging and you can't forget that sweet smell... the sweet smell of Evergreen!

I know I married the right guy... Morgan came with gloves, a knife and patients. This year we did pretty good we found 'the one' in about

15-20 min.

Anaya was a trooper and LOVED every minute of it!

Here is the winner...

Today was so special.

Reupholster 101

2007-12-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

1st completed reupholster job!

This became a Sunday morning project that turned into a 3 hour or deal. Morgan helped take apart the rocker and we worked on the back rest together. From there on I was on a mission.

In the end, we were all pleased including Anaya!

Kitchen Surprise!

2007-11-29T19:39:00.000-08:00

In the we hours before Anaya's birthday, Morgan put together a special present
from Nana, Papi, Auntie Lisa & fam and us.
A cool all wood retro kitchen.

Here is a clip of her seeing it for the 1st time!

need I say more

2007-11-29T07:12:00.000-08:00

i love my cousin T

la tegra

2007-11-16T20:55:00.000-08:00

Some of you might know, Anaya & I are Beco models, by default. Beco is the company I work for and love. Come check out our site, which I helped design.

www.becobabycarrier.com

all you need is love

2007-11-16T14:50:00.000-08:00

So our little munchkie will be 2 this Sunday!! can you believe it ?! They weren't kidding when they said it would go fast...

Anaya has been such a riot lately. Her vocabulary is growing by the minute and most of all she has found wonderment in music! She's been singing her little heart out. This morning she woke up... singing...at 6:15 AM!! She is so proud and we are too (during normal business hour - LOL). The song that we have to hear over and over again at the moment is 'Revolution' by none other than the Fabe 4. 'The Beatles are my Favorite!'said Anaya, in the car the other night. No joke. There's something that is just so darn cute about an almost 2 yr. old singing 'we all want to change the world', 'you know it's going to be... ALL RIGHT'. Pretty magical words.

we love mr. rogers

2007-11-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

olive juice

1950's

a blink of an eye...

whooo arrre yooou....

little bunny foo foo

my most favorite flower in the world

mother's day tea

so appropriate

their relationship in a nutshell

anaya's first train ride...

fairy anaya

a day n a life of a three yr old

bliss.

spring is here!!

anaya LUVs her grace -n josh

ooh la la..

new years resolution

3rd birthday

reminiscing...

A Birthday Care Package from Holland

feeln' the love

Happy Halloween

Camping 2008

1st field trip ~ Tanaka Farms

a weekend in carp.

Yes, We Can!

boho chic

the many faces of Anaya

signing with Omi

Jencie & Anaya

Happy Father's Day, Papa!

Aquarium of the Pacific

My little Amelie

The Queen Mary ~ Tony-Lynn & Rob's Wedding

i love this pic.

watch out Ceaser Milan...

And so it starts...

a different perspective.

exactly what we wanted to do...

Meet: BOB

let it be

Me and My Papa

we heart this new band...

needing some magic...

Beatle Mania

china-doll

our little sick bear

a new chapter...

I'm turning into such a mom...

Pesticides in Produce

skate or die

spread the word...

bang. bang.

the art of threading...

** happy new year **

Thank God for Reindeer!

cookie monster

Trimming of the Tree

Oh! Christmas tree

Reupholster 101

Kitchen Surprise!

need I say more

la tegra

all you need is love

we love mr. rogers

happy new year